Protracted Outbreak of Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii after Intercontinental Transfer of Colonized Patients

International audienc

Protracted outbreak of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii after intercontinental transfer of colonized patients

To describe the course and management of a protracted outbreak after intercontinental transfer of 2 patients colonized with multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB)

Protracted Outbreak of Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii after Intercontinental Transfer of Colonized Patients

International audienc

Outbreak of an Uncommon Rifampin-resistant blaNDM-1Citrobacter amalonaticus Strain in a Digestive Rehabilitation Center: The Putative Role of Rifaximin

Abstract We describe a sudden 2-week outbreak due to a blaNDM-1Citrobacter amalonaticus strain in a 22-bed digestive rehabilitation center. Three of the 5 colonized patients received long-term rifaximin treatment to prevent hepatic encephalopathy. The strains were genotypically identical, phenotypically resistant to rifampin, and harbored arr-3, a rifampin adenosine diphosphate-ribosyl transferase

Short-Pulse Lasers: A Versatile Tool in Creating Novel Nano-/Micro-Structures and Compositional Analysis for Healthcare and Wellbeing Challenges

International audienceDriven by flexibility, precision, repeatability and eco-friendliness, laser-based technologies have attracted great interest to engineer or to analyze materials in various fields including energy, environment, biology and medicine. A major advantage of laser processing relies on the ability to directly structure matter at different scales and to prepare novel materials with unique physical and chemical properties. It is also a contact-free approach that makes it possible to work in inert or reactive liquid or gaseous environment. This leads today to a unique opportunity for designing, fabricating and even analyzing novel complex bio-systems. To illustrate this potential, in this paper, we gather our recent research on four types of laser-based methods relevant for nano-/micro-scale applications. First, we present and discuss pulsed laser ablation in liquid, exploited today for synthetizing ultraclean “bare” nanoparticles attractive for medicine and tissue engineering applications. Second, we discuss robust methods for rapid surface and bulk machining (subtractive manufacturing) at different scales by laser ablation. Among them, the microsphere-assisted laser surface engineering is detailed for its appropriateness to design structured substrates with hierarchically periodic patterns at nano-/micro-scale without chemical treatments. Third, we address the laser-induced forward transfer, a technology based on direct laser printing, to transfer and assemble a multitude of materials (additive structuring), including biological moiety without alteration of functionality. Finally, the fourth method is about chemical analysis: we present the potential of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, providing a unique tool for contact-free and space-resolved elemental analysis of organic materials. Overall, we present and discuss the prospect and complementarity of emerging reliable laser technologies, to address challenges in materials’ preparation relevant for the development of innovative multi-scale and multi-material platforms for bio-applications

Chemins d'outre-mer

Michel Balard est l'un des historiens qui, loin des évocations nostalgiques, des exclusions communautaires, des oppositions irréductibles, travaille à une histoire totale de l'espace méditerranéen. Dans ses cours, ses conférences, ses travaux personnels comme dans les recherches collectives qu'il a animées, il a placé les croisades, les conflits et les échanges de toute nature, les phénomènes de colonisation et de migration au coeur d'un vaste mouvement d'expansion occidentale qui se déploie à l'époque médiévale sous des formes complexes, et dont l'héritage se fait sentir encore aujourd'hui. À l'issue d'une longue et fructueuse carrière universitaire, ses élèves, ses collègues, ses amis ont à coeur d'emprunter les Chemins d'outre-mer qu'il leur avait ouverts, chemins multiples reliant les civilisations byzantine, musulmane et occidentale qui se sont partagé, à la fois rivales et unies, l'espace méditerranéen au Moyen Age. Ce double volume, qui rassemble plus d'une soixantaine de contributions, invite le lecteur à suivre sur ces chemins pèlerins et croisés, marchands et voyageurs, et ainsi à mieux comprendre les formes et les enjeux des relations qui se sont développées d'une rive à l'autre de la Méditerranée